I phoned around all the local vets for 5 miles to compare prices

MrsE_2

stirlo wrote: »

around the london area (and esp. surrey!) the vets are certainly expensive!! unfortunately for you we havn't opened a branch of YourVets in surrey (yet!) - our nearest one is in essex - but I've put in our prices from our birmingham clinics below to give you an idea of how much extra you are being charged by those nice south east vets!!


Neutering
£49.42 to £77.36
YourVets= £30 (inc collar & 2x hill's i/d pouches)

Micro-chipping (at the time of neutering)
£15.99 to £32.50
YourVets=£12.50

Bi-annual flea jab
£25.73 to £51.96
we don't offer this to clients unless they specifically ask for it, as some pets can suffer flea allergic dermatitis with this product, we find that frontline is both cheaper, easier to use, and more effective

Annual booster with leukaemia
£33.90 to £58.97
YourVets=£20

:cool:

Shall I wizz around the M25 on Friday the 28th November, can you fit me in:rotfl:

stirlo_2

haha not sure the petrol consumption would justify it!! and lets not forget the £1 charge to use the dartford tunnel! Martin would frown at such behaviour!! :rotfl:

suki1964

Dont forget pet insurance is ALSO more expensive for London and the Southeast (

I have let ours lapse since living out here. Farm vet - fees are a pittance compared to what we used to pay - and so many more items dispensed over the phone - saving me a fortune in eye and ear drops alone (spaniels and sandy beaches not the best combo in the world )

simontheiceman

TBH If youre paying more than £12-50 for a microchip you are paying too much. I charge £10 but the bloke down the road charges £23!!! I work on the assumption that for £10 ANYONE will get them chipped and identification is so helpful. Admittedly I buy them in 500s to get the price low enough so I can do them for that cost. At £10 anyone will add it to a booster / puppy vaccination / operation. At £23 they start to think twice.

Milford_Cubicle

Do you think £20 for a dog microchip is fair, then? Because I assumed the chip was the same thing for each creature - we had our puppy chipped a week or so back along with her second injection (+£18).

The vet I use has a very good reputation, but it is a little on the pricey side because it's only one of two in quite a large geographical area. I was charged £12.50 last week to check my kitten over (I was concerned her tummy was more distended than usual) and a worming tablet which I thought was fair...?
Both vets charge similar fees though.

I've been quoted between £100 - £125 to have my pup spayed when she's old enough (I assume when she's fully grown, depends when her first season is). I feel that even when vets charge higher prices than others, we pay that fee regardless and don't question it a lot of the time. Experiences such as the sad event MrsTine went through recently puts it all into perspective I think!

foreign_correspondent

simontheiceman wrote: »

I work on the assumption that for £10 ANYONE will get them chipped and identification is so helpful.

that is really good of you, shame more vets dont think this way!

lowis

simon should rename himself...simontheniceman

missbargain

Ooooh, MrsE, CONGRATULATIONS:beer: !!!

Great news, I wish you the best of luck and lots of fun with your new addition, I am sure Ted would approve, wherever he is! Please post the picks as soon as you can, can't wait to see them!

I have been so busy this week, partly because I hung on the Forums after work for too long, and now my paperwork is a mountain that is waiting to be sorted out . So I can't linger for too long, but I could not resisist joining in when I saw the news about the new addition.

As for London vets, I agree that SOME of them pay higher rents. However, some of them don't, as they have been on long leases for years (some decades), with rents unchanged for a long time, and often their surgeries are tiny, some miniscule, and some downright shabby.
I saw some where there is one cupboard size room as a reception, one small room for treatments/exhams (can't even swing that cat) + a tiny loo.
I know these things first hand as I recently looked quite intensely at some sites for my own business, not the vet one, obviously, but I came across a couple of "for lease" vet practices.
I met people who have been on long leases for years for absolutely tiny rents, the type of rents that I could only dream about. Some of them were selling out because the landlord has changed and only now they have to pay "market" rents, which are falling, by the way.
So, it definitely pays to shop around, and, if one is lucky, perhaps it is possible to find the nice, reasonably priced vet in the local area.

"Simon theniceman" LOL, I agree...

missbargain

P.S.
I was charged 57.80 for hand examination and a jab for my cat who I thought might be getting a bit of cold (this was not a booster or the flu jab).
This included vet looking at his teeth and touching him all over his body (no instruments involved). And this was at the cheaper vet I found, which I like very much.

MrsE_2

http://www.biboukatz.co.uk/Photos/Zygi04.jpg
I will load some properly, but here is one to be getting on with.